SUBURBAN REPORT.

Meijer withdraws plans for grocery

MONTGOMERY — Meijer Inc. has withdrawn plans to build a grocery and general merchandise store in the village.

Village President Marilyn Michelini said she was disappointed with the decision, which came more than a year after the board of trustees approved zoning for the development.

Meijer, however, never closed on the property, owned by Inland Real Estate Development Corp., Michelini said.

Part of the hang-up was the cost of work necessary to get the site -- just east of Blain's Farm and Fleet north of U.S. Bypass 30 at 5th Street -- out of a flood plain. Meijer officials believed doing that made development too expensive, Michelini said.

The village continues to work with Inland to develop up to 95 acres east of 5th Street that includes the former Meijer site, said Village Manager Anne Marie Gaura. It's also willing to work with Meijer if it is interested in other village sites, she said.

Village officials had hoped the proposed Meijer store would add hundreds of thousands of sales-tax dollars annually to village coffers.